Video Cameras To Be Installed At Rec Centers In Philadelphia
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - City Council and the Nutter Administration have reached agreement on a plan to install video cameras at about 150 recreation centers and playgrounds throughout Philadelphia. Details of the plan were to be announced Wednesday.
Eighth District Councilwoman Cindy Bass spearheaded the surveillance effort:
"We can have a camera system in every playground and rec center in Philadelphia within the next three years."
Bass and the nine other district council members have agreed to earmark one-tenth of their district capital dollars for the effort in each of the next three years. The cameras, she says, will be for recording only:
"Hopefully at some point we'll be able to get live monitoring. I don't believe that that's the system that they'll have in place for right now."
Still, Bass believes this will be a deterrent to rec center crime and violence:
"We want to make sure that we get the surveillance equipment in there as quickly as possible, so people know this is not the place."
The issue of rec center safety moved to the forefront after a reported sexual encounter at a rec center last summer.
